


It's Warmer Where You Are

by dumbhqoneshots



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 02:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12521132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbhqoneshots/pseuds/dumbhqoneshots
Summary: Short IwaOi university AU where Iwaizumi and Oikawa miss each other so, so much.





	It's Warmer Where You Are

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday gift for the wonderful @tobiohchan, aka Mish! She's a wonderful friend and I can only hope this is good enough for the great person she is. <3

_"Take care of yourself."_

 

Exhaustion was in every single drop of sweat that crept up along his skin. Oikawa knew not to push himself, he could hear Iwaizumi scolding him in his head. Oikawa knew, he knew, but he threw the ball into the air instead.

  
Time slowed down, for just a minute. The ball rotated underneath the gym lights, and he can feel it, the kick to his back, the look that Iwaizumi would always give him burning into the back of his head. But when the ball rotated back to normal, at normal speed, falling so quickly, Oikawa reasoned with himself that this is what he has to do now.

It's university, it's different than the people he knew for years in high school, he has to work harder to prove himself to the coach that still thinks he has a lot to learn. And Oikawa jumps up, rising into the air with a direct swing, powerful and tactfully aimed, and sends the ball onto the other side of the court.

The coach was right, after all. Oikawa did have a lot to learn, and he would have to work harder, much harder to learn it all.

But Oikawa knew, he knew not to push himself.

He was satisfied with it, hearing the loud _smack_ of the ball against the floor, but he wasn't sure why he was on the ground. And he realized, when the searing pain burned under his skin and throughout his leg that Iwaizumi was still right, even if he wasn't there.

But Iwaizumi wasn't there, not this time. And Oikawa didn't know who to call first for help.

 

***

_"Call me whenever you need me."_

 

Surgery. Oikawa knew that night, when he stayed late to practice, when his knee finally told him no, no you're resting and you're going to stop, that it would need surgery.

The swelling had finally gone down, but it felt so much heavier than before. Oikawa had received a scolding from the coach, and Oikawa accepted it, leaning on his crutches refusing to look at his teammates in the eye.

"I should've come by," Kuroo Tetsurou, a middle blocker quite well rounded in his craft, sighed. Kuroo looked downtrodden and Oikawa hated it. It wasn't his fault, so why's he so sad?

"I'm not your kid, you didn't have any obligation to," Oikawa mutters, the crutches hurting under his arms more than before as he spoke.

Kuroo smiled wearily, wiping sweat with his forearm. "Nope, not at all. You're just a friend, that's all," Kuroo casts a sidelong glance, a smirk having crept on his lips.

Oikawa couldn't help it. He smiled. "It's not that bad. It's happened before," Oikawa said, looking down at his knee. "I'll be back on the court soon enough."

Kuroo crossed his arms and his smirk fell away. "You'll have to get through surgery first. Take it easy, will you? What's Iwaizumi think about all of this?"

Oikawa's shoulders drew tense and his jaw clenched. "He doesn't think anything, Kuro-chan," Oikawa smiled his way, one of the smiles Iwaizumi used to always call 'impure' or 'devious'.

It was a defensive smile, and Oikawa knew that Kuroo only meant well, after all he truly was a kind person. But Iwaizumi was struggling with exams and the stress of a busy volleyball schedule himself. Oikawa wouldn't burden him with this, he couldn't. He wouldn't.

Kuroo met the smile with an unreadable expression. "First you always talk about him, won't shut up about him, "Iwa-chan this" and "Iwa-chan" that, and now you won't even call him when you need him most? That doesn't make any sense."

Oikawa didn't speak. His fingers gripped tighter around the crutches. He wanted to yell, he did. But Kuroo was right, just like Iwaizumi was right, just like the coach was right. They were all right, and Oikawa had gotten weak again.

He didn't want to call Iwaizumi with the news of his weakness, he wouldn't.

Oikawa shivered.

***

_"I'll come by whenever you need me."_

 

How could a phone be so burdensome? How did Kuroo talk him into calling Iwaizumi? How did he end up an hour before a doctor appointment, staring at Iwaizumi's contact information, unable to will his finger to move?

He'd been texting him, as though everything were normal, after all. Oikawa gulped, and his hands were shaking so hard the crutches trembled. How can calling someone be so hard?

No, it wasn't just his hands. His whole body shook, and with a swift tap, a moment of strangely terrifying courage, he pressed call. Oikawa took a shaky breath and held the phone to his ear.

On the second ring, a familiar gruff grunt and a curious tone of voice filled his ear.

"Hey," Iwaizumi's voiced sounded so weighed down, and he could hear pages of a book being flipped on the other side. Oikawa wanted to hang up.

"Iwa-chan, are you studying? Did I interrupt you?" Oikawa, for once in his life, was unsure of what to say to Iwaizumi. He heard a sigh on the other side. Oikawa's heart thumped against his ribcage.

"Actually," Iwaizumi leaned back, and somehow Oikawa knew that. Somehow Oikawa knew, from the way he seemed to get lighter in his voice. He missed him, he missed him so much. "You're just the distraction I needed, this stupid anatomy workload is impossible."

"Oh?" Oikawa forced himself to sound normal, even though tears threatened to break like a dam over his eyelids. He wanted to talk more, but Iwaizumi caught it. He caught Oikawa's hesitancy.

"Tooru? Are you okay? You haven't said anything," Iwaizumi was worried, and Oikawa knew that he had sat right back up, giving his full attention to him.

"I'm fine," Oikawa lied. "I'm fine, I just wanted to hear your voice," and Oikawa knew he shouldn't have said it like that, but it was the truth, and he didn't want to lie to Iwaizumi more than he had to.

Iwaizumi was quiet for a second, and Oikawa can practically see him across the room, giving him the skeptical glare. Oikawa's heart skipped a beat. "What's going on? What happened?" Iwaizumi finally asked him, all traces of casual conversation gone from his tone.

Oikawa hated himself and he hated how the words got stuck in his throat. He didn't need to cry, not before his appointment, not with Iwaizumi so bogged down with schoolwork and his own volleyball team, not like this. "I'm..." Oikawa couldn't continue on before a sob found its way out into the open.

Oikawa hated himself. "I'm having another surgery. I let you down, Iwa-chan," and he smiled as he said it, he smiled and laughed to keep himself from crying. Even though the tears left his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, he still smiled and laughed.

Iwaizumi was silent. There was noise of a cafe, maybe a bookstore in the background, but Iwaizumi was suddenly absent.

"I'm coming over, right now."

Oikawa panicked. "No, you can't. Sorry," Oikawa said, his knee feeling a sharp pain even though it was stilled. "I'm about to go to a consultation appointment, in forty minutes."

"That's more than enough time, I can catch the train, I can get a cab--"

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa said sharply. "It's okay. You can't. You have to study and you have your own practice. I'll be fine, I just...Kuroo just wanted me to let you know."

Oikawa could hear a zipper, and another gruff grunt. "Tooru listen to me, I'm coming. Even if I'm late, I can meet you at your dorm after the appointment. I'm coming over."

Oikawa hung up. He couldn't stop the tears this time, they poured out, and wanted to grip and tear at his ugly, stupid knee for causing him so much trouble.

No, that wasn't fair, it wasn't his knee's fault, it wasn't Kuroo's fault, it wasn't Iwaizumi's fault. It was his, he didn't listen, he had a moment of weakness after doing so well, and he was paying the price. There was only one thing keeping him looking forward with pride. He wouldn't let this stop him in the long run, he wasn't going to let Iwaizumi down a second time.

***

_"I'm sorry."_

 

Iwaizumi was at Oikawa's door in an hour and a half, and of course Oikawa wasn't there. He'd taken the fastest routes to get there, but he'd still been pretty late.

He knew something was wrong. Oikawa's texts were shorter, less emojis, less selfies, and even though those things seemed trivial, Iwaizumi missed them. He didn't know it was something this serious, he couldn't have known.

He hadn't asked.

Iwaizumi kicked himself, leaning against the door and closing his eyes. Oikawa was always so strong, and even though Iwaizumi seemed to come only when Oikawa was in trouble, he needed this, too.

Two panic attacks. He'd never experienced panic attacks, maybe some anxiety, but they hit him hard, and two just the day before. Two just that morning. His classes were weighing him down heavier than the backpack filled with thick textbooks and scribbled in notebooks.

He needed to see Oikawa. He needed to lace his fingers with his and he wanted to lay there, hold him, and if they had to, they could both cry it out. His eyes were still closed when he heard a distinct sound of crutches. His chest tightened.

He opened his eyes and with a slow glance, he saw him. He was wearing loose sweats, loose sweats that seemed to accentuate weight loss from what Iwaizumi could only guess was stress. Iwaizumi's breath stopped when he saw the dark circles gathered beneath his eyes and the tired, so tired look in his eyes. He wanted to take Oikawa into his arms and hold him right then and there, but the crutches seemed to be some sort of fence, a wall blocking him off.

"Hajime," Oikawa's voice was breathy and he was shocked, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You...you're actually here."

"Of course," Iwaizumi immediately replied, "I meant it when I said I'd come over, Shittykawa." He smiled at Oikawa's smile, the one that was so honest, so relieved. Oikawa struggled with his crutches, and Iwaizumi shook his head.

"Here."

Oikawa didn't protest Iwaizumi taking the crutches away and wrapping an arm around his waist. He helped Oikawa to the door and held him still and steady as he fished his key out of his pocket. Oikawa's fingers were shaking and Iwaizumi's breath was ragged. Oikawa's arm was slung around his shoulder, warm with his hand clenched into a fist on the fabric of Iwaizumi's shirt.

Getting through the opened door was filled with carefully ordered limbs and nervous laughter and curses when Oikawa winced in pain. He wasn't used to walking without crutches anymore, it seemed. Iwaizumi was there in an instant, holding Oikawa again and walking him to the bed to rest.

Both falling on the bed, two sighs filtered into the air.

"You nearly hurt my knee worse, Iwa-chan," Oikawa huffed out, pouting.

Iwaizumi scoffed, his arm still around Oikawa's back, the warmth so comforting against his hand. "You rushed in here, that's not my fault," he laughed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Well this _is_ my dorm room," Oikawa replied, a smile gracing his lips. Iwaizumi felt his chest tighten, this time out of something he could only label as adoration. He had missed him. "And the appointment was," Oikawa's smile faded slowly, just like the words Oikawa didn't want to speak.

Iwaizumi's eyes caught his hands, shaking in his lap, fingers trembling, weakly holding the fabric of his sweatpants. Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa close, placing his hand over Oikawa's.

"Hey, I'm here, I'm right here," Iwaizumi whispered, pressing his lips gently against Oikawa's hair.

It was strange, the tears coming to his own eyes. This warmth, the two of them so broken and for such different reasons, in a dorm room cluttered with Oikawa's own textbooks and assignments, they were both messes.

"I'm sorry," Oikawa said to him through the tears, sobs and sniffles, and Iwaizumi felt his heart nearly shatter. "You always were right, Hajime, and I got weak, I got weak when the coach said I needed to earn my place, that it wasn't like high school, I got so weak, and I'm sorry I let you down," Oikawa cried into Iwaizumi's chest, his body curved into him, vulnerable and so delicate.

It was unlike him, but Oikawa is human after all, and Iwaizumi could only see it as he always saw Oikawa Tooru. He took his hands and pressed them against Oikawa's cheeks, holding Oikawa up.

Pressing his lips below his eyes, kissing away the tears so gently, wiping away at the trails of tears with his thumbs.

"What are you apologizing for? So what, you made a mistake," he sniffed, fully aware of his own tears. "You're strong, look at you, you were holding this in for so long, huh? You should've told me sooner, Shittykawa," and he's crying a little harder than he thought he would.

Oikawa is wide-eyed, and he's stopped crying. Iwaizumi closed his eyes as he felt Oikawa's hands raise to hold his, and their foreheads are pressed together.

"I'm sorry if I made you cry--" Oikawa attempted to say.

Iwaizumi cut him off.

"I'm happy, that's why I'm crying. You have no idea, do you? You have no idea how much I've missed you," Iwaizumi gushed out, kissing Oikawa's cheeks again.

It startled him, Oikawa's laughter. He opened his eyes to see Oikawa smiling widely, a big, wide grin spread across his swollen and flushed face. He fell to the bed, and laughed harder.

"W-what's so funny about that?" Iwaizumi blushed, unsure of what to think or say.

Oikawa looked up at him, stunning in the way his eyes seemed to hold that honest happiness he hadn't seen in so...too long. A smile so stupidly big only got bigger when Oikawa replied with, "We're train wrecks, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi fell back on the bed, laughing with him. It was true, after all. After the laughter died down to silence, they both stared at the ceiling of Oikawa's dorm room. They didn't say anything. Somewhere in the eternity of time they spent silent and staring, their hands found one another and their fingers laced together, just as Iwaizumi missed.

It was that moment that none of it mattered, none of the assignments, the exams, the classes with horrid professors and the stress that kept him awake at night tossing and turning. The panic attacks seemed measly when he held Oikawa's hand.

"I'm having panic attacks, every day, and I can't sleep well at night."

"My ACL was completely torn when I came down on my leg wrong."

Iwaizumi laughed. "You're right, we're definitely train wrecks."

Oikawa's grip tightened. "I miss Hanamaki and Matsukawa. They would be laughing at us right now, or suffering with us. Maybe both. I miss them."

"Me, too."

"I miss you, all the time."

Iwaizumi turned to look at him. Oikawa was beautiful, he was always beautiful, tear-stained, flushed and swollen face or not. "Me, too."

It was another moment's silence, Oikawa staring at the ceiling, holding onto Iwaizumi's hand tightly, and Iwaizumi staring at their intertwined hands.

"You don't have to be there, you know, for the surgery, you've got enough going on," Oikawa turned to him. Oikawa's eyes were moist and Iwaizumi could tell it was taking every fiber of Oikawa's being not to cry more.

Iwaizumi scoffed, squeezing Oikawa's hand gently. "I'll be there, you can't stop me."

"But your studying--"

"I can study in the waiting room."

"What about exams--"

"I can take some of them online."

"Iwa-chan, I mean it," Oikawa said.

Iwaizumi knew that already.

"I mean it, too, damn it. I'm gonna be there, and you can't stop me, Tooru," Iwaizumi's face hardened.

Oikawa didn't say anything. His gaze turned back to the ceiling as he brought Iwaizumi's hand to his lips, pressing them against his fingers lightly.

"I'm coming to your next game, even if I have to do it on crutches," Oikawa finally replied. Iwaizumi stared in disbelief. How stupid could he be? On game day, the campus is so busy, and just picturing Oikawa walking on crutches nearly sent him into a panic.

"No, no, no. You can't, that's too dangerous on crutches, no way," Iwaizumi replied sternly, pulling Oikawa closer to him.

Oikawa winced a little and adjusted himself to rest against Iwaizumi's chest. "I'm going."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

Iwaizumi couldn't help but smile.

"No, you aren't."

"Yup, I will."

Iwaizumi laughed.

"Dammit, stop being so stubborn!" Iwaizumi scolded.

Oikawa looked up at him and Iwaizumi melted when their eyes met. "Don't come to my surgery and I won't walk on crutches to your game."

"Those are two vastly different situations, Tooru," Iwaizumi frowned, running his fingers through Oikawa's soft hair.

"No, they aren't, not really," Oikawa said, shrugging. "You're gonna be there for moral support, so am I, see? Not that different." Oikawa smirked, the perfect punctuation to his stubbornness.

In high school, he would've been irritated. Well, he was still a little irritated, but he was mostly happy, happy to see Oikawa be _Oikawa_. Stubborn as hell with a shit-eating smirk on his pretty face, he had missed both more than anything.

He felt better, his anxiety still there in the form of the backpack resting on the floor, but Oikawa was in his arms, and he was happy even if they were two train wrecks.

"I'm too tired to argue," Iwaizumi admitted, closing his eyes.

"Me, too," Oikawa said, muffled against Iwaizumi's chest.

"So, we'll talk about this when we wake up?" Iwaizumi asked, feeling Oikawa adjust himself more comfortably.

"Mhmmm," Oikawa replied, resting his head underneath Iwaizumi's chin.

Iwaizumi held him tightly, their warmth shared between them, and in a quick five minutes the two fell asleep, the first good sleep they'd had in weeks, months. Oikawa's knee didn't hurt so bad, and Iwaizumi finally didn't toss and turn, awaking to a cold sweat. It was simple and gentle, the picture of the two sleeping so peacefully.

And on into the night, they were each other's blankets, each other's pillows, their comfort, and the two finally rested.

**Author's Note:**

> Hecking aslkjfadsklf there it is, I hope everything was in character more than less and I hope you liked it! Especially YOU, Mish, happy birthday :3c!!! <3


End file.
